‘Happiness is something you have to look after, be vigilant about,”advises a mother in Gavin Wiesen’s impressive debut feature, The Art of Getting By. The writer-director has certainly been vigilant about ensuring our happiness with this touching coming-of-age story, crafting detailed characters and dialogue that we believe in from the start. True, the plot is predictable and many big screen teenagers have stumbled and fallen just like Wiesen’s hero, who describes himself as “the Teflon slacker”. But what the film lacks in originality, it makes up for in sincerity and bittersweet charm.

Fatalistic high school student George Zinavoy (Freddie Highmore) doesn’t see any point in completing class assignments and the socially awkward loner is on the verge of failing to graduate. “I have a real problem with motivating but I’ll try,” he tells Principal Martinson (Blair Underwood), not really believing those words himself.

When his mother Vivian (Rita Wilson) and stepfather Jack (Sam Robards) discover he is on academic probation, George convinces them he just needs to apply himself. By chance, George crosses paths with Sally (Emma Roberts) and he takes the blame and the punishment for her transgression during school hours. In return, she introduces George to a world of parties and colour he never knew existed. He also finds a mentor for his artistic endeavours in painter Dustin (Michael Angarano) — a school alumnus, who is immediately taken with Sally.

The Art of Getting By is a charming and moving portrait of growing pains, distinguished by a compelling lead performance from Highmore as a boy on the cusp of manhood, who describes himself as “kind of a misanthrope . . . not by choice, kind of a fact”. The actor doesn’t strike one false note getting beneath the skin of his disenfranchised and painfully lonely misfit.

He looks awkward in his own company and anguish ripples across his face when Sally defuses any possible sexual tension by telling George up front: “You’re my only real friend. Let’s not ruin it.”

Angarano and Underwood offer solid support as mentors. The stuttering romance with Roberts carouses us between smiles and tears, and crucially, Wiesen draws together the narrative threads without resorting to cliches and sickly sentiment.

Geeky teen Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) warns best friend Charley (Anton Yelchin) that the hunky drifter, Jerry (Colin Farrell) next-door is a vampire in Fright Night 3D. “You read too much Twilight!” scoffs Charley, ignoring Ed’s pleas to keep a cross on his person at all times. When Ed vanishes without trace, Charley wonders if Jerry might be responsible.

As the teenager investigates, he imperils his divorced mother, Jane (Toni Collette), and girlfriend Amy (Imogen Poots). Thankfully, showman and vampire expert Peter Vincent (Tennant) has some valuable tips on defeating the creatures of the night.

Fright Night 3D values spectacle over substance so while Gillespie’s film is painfully light on characterisation and plot, it delivers some terrific action sequences.

A violent stand-off gives new meaning to ‘bringing the house down’.

Farrell is sexy and menacing while Tennant swaggers around as the comic relief, providing sterling support to the ever likeable Yelchin, who vows through gritted and polished teeth: “I’m gonna end it or he’s gonna end me. That’s how it’s gonna be.”